Tag: IM

Using Instant Messaging in Education – Good or Bad?

Google Docs, My class, TwitterPublished onUpdated on6 Comments on Using Instant Messaging in Education – Good or Bad?

Every single upper junior class that I have taught has loved instant messaging (IM). It is probably the most popular use of technology at home. But does that mean it needs to be used in the classroom? It falls into the same category as console gaming does and seems to spark differing reactions from people in education. I believe it can engage learners and much more.

I began the hashtag #IMinEDU to keep a record of a discussion on this topic that took place on Twitter. It revealed a range of views, some great resources and ideas. I have archived the conversation in a Google Doc because over time a hashtag Twitter search will disappear.

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I have had a few experiences of the impact that IM can have on a lesson. When we began using Google Docs in our lessons we used the instant messaging function in Spreadsheets. I was able to post questions about the data we collected together – the children responded in the chat window. We repeated this recently and once again it was a great plenary to the lesson.

A further example is the use of the chat feature in a Google Presentation (In presentation/slideshow mode – “View Together”). I created a reading text and asked comprehension questions in the chat window – the children accessed the text for the answers and posted them in the chat. We have also done some peer review on a range of presentations using the chat – children posted comments and responses to work shared by others.

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In my experience of using instant messaging I have discovered some common elements:

Engage, Engage, Engage – sometimes the children seem set to explode when they realise they are using IM in class. They are totally engaged with the tasks. They love using it.

Motivated – when asking a question in IM the children are really motivated to answer it, they all want to get their responses posted. They want to write – that can only be a good thing.

Inclusive – everyone can contribute at the same time. No-one misses out, everyone is involved. Responding in this way breaks the “hands-up” culture.

Behaviour – I don’t see any point in asking the children to behave completely differently when using IM in class. We can still say things like, “No smileys in the next answer,” or “I am watching your spelling for this one.” I think this flexible approach is better than saying, “You are never allowed to use smileys when we use IM in class!” That’s like asking them not to lick their lips when eating a sugar doughnut – it’s just what you do.

Teacher directed – in the examples I explained above I have been specific about the way we are using IM. It is not a free for all, it is carefully planned and directed. It is useful to have your questions typed up so you can paste them in the chat quickly.

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There needs to be more examples of teachers using it and sharing their reflections, to get a fuller picture of its usefulness. I think it has a place and I hope that some ideas in this post or the Twitter discussion give you something to think about and perhaps try in your class.

How have you used instant messaging in the classroom? What is your opinion about the use of it in lessons, does it have a place?

Using the "Discuss" tool in Google spreadsheets

Google DocsPublished onUpdated on8 Comments on Using the "Discuss" tool in Google spreadsheets

We have been using spreadsheets from Google quite considerably this year. The main strength over Excel is the ability to share the data that is generated and benefit from a pooling of efforts and results. One of the most recent uses in my Year 5/Grade 4 class was during a History lesson, in which we were exploring why the River Nile is so important to Egypt. I posed the question quite openly and asked the children to explore some climate data about different world cities in order to refer it against some of the major sities in Egypt. I have embedded the spreadsheet below.

Each child was given a few different cities to explore and using our class laptop resource they independently investigated average rainfall, temperature etc. They added the results into the correct sheet and as we all worked we were able to see the other results popping up.

At the end of the session I posed the main enquiry once again, “Why was/is the River Nile so important to Egypt?” I asked the children to use the “Discuss” tab (top right, next to “Share” and “Publish”) and to write their answers in the instant messaging tool. Once they had added their response I asked them to join me in front of the SMARTBoard to finish the session.

The “Discuss” tool allowed me to quickly collate all of the children’s thoughts into one place and display them on the IWB to discuss. It proved to be a good focused activity to finish the independent session and it generated some interesting points to discuss in the plenary. Here is the unedited transcript of what they responded with.

year5tb: because it dosen’t rain much.

me: the river nile

year5tb: so they can drink beacuse they can drink and stay healthy. So they can drink from in it. ? Hi J.C!

Because they don’t realy have much precipitation to live on.

They hardly have any precipitatoin and the River Nile is the only water they have

year5tb: because theres no fresh water to help there land stay moist. Becues it is the most hotist and driay and that is the only warter. Because it’s the only river in eygit. That the only river. We think that the river Nile is important because the weather is so dry and hot. It is the only wet river they have.

Why is the river niel inportent becuase the river is dray and it is not so wet. So they can keep fresh.

me: Because they hardly have eny rain fall

year5tb: Because its hot and dose’nt rain much.

So egypt can have water from the river and then take it back to there village.

As you can see in the text there is plenty to discuss with the children and we referred back to the spreadsheet as we talked and justified some of the ideas. It brought all of their thoughts into one place and became a clear focal point for closing the lesson. I think that the idea of a simple message board service / tool would be really useful for a laptop session whether in GDocs or not – perhaps something to explore, it would have to be something light, with no login so children can just get in and add their response.

(If I were to ask the children do something similar in the future I will ask them to add an initial to the post so that it becomes more useful for assessment purposes.)